When on-demand life insurance software provider iPipeline recently surveyed distribution customers across the country, CEO Tim Wallace wanted to know where his company, based in Exton, stood in the marketplace.

Wallace found that iPipeline, which has been recognized locally and nationally for its growth among privately held companies, was in even better position than he thought. The survey revealed more than half of the distributors plan on adopting the company's trademark software to deliver error-free, straight-through electronic processing for applications--iGOFORMS. The product, which boasts intelligent-forms technology to catch obvious errors in online applications, saves carriers about $100 per application and reduces the policy application process from 40 days to 10 days.

''Unfortunately, life insurance and much of the property casualty industry, from a mainstream business standpoint, is five to 10 years behind major corporations in terms of technology,'' Wallace says.

Each state has different requirements for the astronomical amount of forms required by the life insurance industry, but carriers can download the forms they need from iPipeline and fill them out online. Manual applications, Wallace noted, have a 65-percent error rate. And errors mean wasted time and money.

Wallace, whose company employs 100 people locally and has satellite offices in Atlanta, Charlotte and Milwaukee, services 14 major carries in a marketplace of about 1,400. He believes the company can handle about four iGOFORMS implementations per quarter, which would put iPipeline in an even better position--as the industry standard.

''Right now, we’re anticipating 20-30 percent revenue growth over last year,'' Wallace says. ''Frankly, I wish it could be higher.''

And it might be, if the company begins plans to apply its technology to other types of insurance and expand the application to consumers.

"A lot depends where we’re headed with the economy," Wallace says.

Source: Tim Wallace, CEO of iPipeline
Writer: Joe Petrucci

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